Search

Applying clean energy is one of the feasible paths to achieve the "dual carbon target". Hydrogen energy, as an efficient and clean energy, is a new growth point for creating industrial transformation and upgrading. Ammonia is recognized as a zero-carbon hydrogen energy carrier, and utilizing hydrogen through hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition is one of the effective ways to safely store, transport and utilize hydrogen energy. In addition, there are many methods to realize the hydrogen production from ammonia, among which the method based on the combination of non-thermal plasma (NTP) and catalyst can reduce the reaction temperature, significantly improve ammonia (NH 3) conversion efficiency and hydrogen energy yield. As one of the methods with good application prospects, the interaction between NTP and catalyst in this method is complicated, and the efficiency of hydrogen production from ammonia is also affected by various factors, which restricts application of the method. In order to provide new ideas for the development and commercial application of NTP-catalytic technology for ammonia decomposition, this paper reviews the progress of NTP-catalytic hydrogen production from ammonia based on a systematic and integrated literature review methodology, analyses the effects of process parameters, temperature, catalyst, and other factors on the efficiency of plasma-catalytic ammonia decomposition, and discusses the plasma source and the mechanism of plasma-catalytic ammonia decomposition reaction. Finally, the opportunities and challenges of this plasma catalysis method are described. • The progress of low-temperature plasma-catalytic NH 3 decomposition was summarized. • Three factors affecting plasma-catalytic NH 3 decomposition reaction were analyzed. • The mechanism of plasma-catalytic NH 3 decomposition were presented. • Opportunities and challenges for plasma-catalytic NH 3 decomposition were outlined. • Low-temperature plasma catalysis can significantly improve the NH 3 conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Senescent cells fueled migration, invasion and stemness of ccRCC, while CeT reverses these effects. • Senescent cells exhibited an upregulation in the expression of Caveolin-1 (CAV1). • CeT attenuates cell senescence and the secretion of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors. • CAV1 serve as a key mediator in CeT-induced inhibition of senescence. Cellular senescence is an emerging hallmark of cancers, primarily fuels cancer progression by expressing senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Caveolin-1 (CAV1) is a key mediator of cell senescence. Previous studies from our group have evidenced that the expression of CAV1 is downregulated by Celastrol (CeT). To investigate the impact of CeT on cellular senescence and its subsequent influence on post-senescence-driven invasion, migration, and stemness of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The expression levels of CAV1, canonical senescence markers, and markers associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness in clinical samples were assessed through Pearson correlation analysis. Senescent cell models were induced using DOX, and their impact on migration, invasion, and stemness was evaluated. The effects of CeT treatment on senescent cells and their pro-tumorigenic effects were examined. Subsequently, the underlying mechanism of CeT were explored using lentivirus transfection and CRISPR/Cas9 technology to silence CAV1. In human ccRCC clinical samples, the expression of the canonical senescence markers p53, p21, and p16 are associated with ccRCC progression. Senescent cells facilitated migration, invasion, and enhanced stemness in both ccRCC cells and ccRCC tumor-bearing mice. As expected, CeT treatment reduced senescence markers (p16, p53, p21, SA-β-gal) and SASP factors (IL6, IL8, CXCL12), alleviating cell cycle arrest. However, it did not restore the proliferation of senescent cells. Additionally, CeT suppressed senescence-driven migration, invasion, and stemness. Further investigations into the underlying mechanism demonstrated that CAV1 is a critical mediator of cell senescence and represents a potential target for CeT to attenuate cellular senescence. This study presents a pioneering investigation into the intricate interplay between cellular senescence and ccRCC progression. We unveil a novel mechanism of CeT to mitigate cellular senescence by downregulating CAV1, thereby inhibiting the migration, invasion and stemness of ccRCC driven by senescent cells. These findings provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of CeT and its potential as a targeted therapeutic approach for alleviating the aggressive phenotypes associated with senescent cells in ccRCC. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a two-dimensional mathematical model of a phase change material (PCM) melting in a triplex tube heat exchanger (TTHX) unit was developed. Based on two parameters, exergy efficiency and heat storage rate, the effects of the operating conditions and unit configurations on the thermal storage performance of the investigated TTHX unit were numerically studied. The results indicate that the increase in heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature improves the heat storage rate but reduces the exergy efficiency. The HTF mass flow rate in the inner and outer tubes should be minimized under the premise that the flow states in both tubes are turbulent. If the flow states in both tubes are turbulent and the HTF mass flow rate remains unchanged, then the HTF mass flow rate in the inner tube should be decreased for higher exergy efficiency. When the PCM radius varies from 30 mm to 70 mm under the same operating conditions, the exergy efficiency increased by 15.6%, while the heat storage rate decreased by 36.8%. If the HTF mass flow rate is large, the variation in TTHX length has a slight influence on the exergy efficiency, but it significantly affects the heat storage rate. • PCM melting in a TTHX unit is physically and mathematically modeled. • The governing equations are nondimensionalized and the numerical simulation is performed in a self-developed Fortran code. • The effects of the operation conditions and unit configurations on the melting performance are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems have gained significant attention recently owing to their high energy-storage-density per unit volume and nearly isothermal behavior during the phase-change process. This study numerically investigates the melting performance of a phase-change material (PCM: Ba(OH) 2 ·8H 2 O) in a triplex tube heat exchanger (TTHX). First, the physical and mathematical models of the TTHX are established. Then, the governing equations are discretized by the finite volume method (FVM). Finally, numerical calculations are carried out by implementing the developed numerical algorithm in FORTRAN computer code. The results reveal that the inlet temperature and flow state of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) significantly influences the PCM melting performance and exergy efficiency ratio of the investigated TTHX. A higher inlet temperature and turbulent state of the HTF can accelerate the phase-change process. However, increasing the mass flow rate of the HTF decreases the exergy efficiency ratio of the investigated TTHX. In conclusion, considering both the melting time and exergy efficiency ratio, increasing the HTF inlet temperature to a certain extent and reducing the mass flow rate of the HTF in the turbulent state can improve the thermal performance of the investigated TTHX. • The melting of the PCM within a triplex tube heat exchanger is modelled. • A two-dimensional finite volume numerical method is used for simulations. • The effects of the operation parameters on the melting performance of the PCM within a TTHX are analyzed. • The exergy efficiency ratio is defined and employed to evaluate the investigated TTHX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevating indoor temperature set-points can reduce cooling energy use. Short-term heat acclimation (HA), the artificially induced adaptation developed in three consecutive days, is an effective method to increase the occupants' acceptance to hot environments. However, the quantitative study on the effects of short-term HA on thermal comfort is lacking. To this end, simulated experiments were conducted in a climate chamber to test the difference of subjects' thermal comfort before and after short-term HA. The subjects were instructed to do intermittent treadmill exercise under hot conditions to reach a HA state. During the trials, core temperature, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and ratings of thermal sensation (RTS) were measured. Perceptual strain index (PeSI) was used to assess the effect of short-term HA. The results showed that short-term HA could improve subjects' adaptability to warmer environments without sacrificing thermal comfort. Furthermore, a HA zone was defined based on the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) of 10%. The upper limit of the HA zone was 2.1 °C higher than that of the summer thermal comfort zone in ASHRAE Standard 55–2017. This finding suggests that a higher temperature set-point could be considered into the control of air-conditioning systems, contributing to building energy conservation. • Short-term HA can acclimatize occupants to a warmer indoor environment. • Perceptual strain index (PeSI) was used to assess the effect of short-term HA. • The HA zone was defined, which is broader than the summer thermal comfort zone. • The HA zone's boundary is 2.1 °C higher than that of the thermal comfort zone. • It is feasible to appropriately elevate indoor temperature set-points in summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We study the qualitative behavior of classical solutions to the Cauchy problem of a generalized Boussinesq–Burgers system in one space dimension. Assuming initial data belong to H 2 (R) and utilizing energy methods, we show that there exist unique global-in-time classical solutions to the Cauchy problem of the model, and the solutions converge to constant equilibrium states as time goes to infinity, regardless of the magnitude of the initial data. Moreover, it is shown that the viscous and inviscid models are consistent in the process of vanishing viscosity limit. Highlights • Model under consideration consists of a power-like dispersion relation. • Classical solutions exist globally for initial data with finite energy. • Constant equilibrium states are globally asymptotically stable. • Viscous system is consistent with inviscid system in vanishing viscosity limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Dual fuel of biomass and natural gas can provide a cost effective and reliable method of simultaneously using renewable energy and fossil energy, and it offers advantages such as flexibility and environmental friendliness. In this paper, a dual fuel combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system primarily composed of a gasifier, gas conditioning unit, gas storage tank, internal combustion engine (ICE), absorption chiller/heater, and heat exchanger is proposed as an energy supply system for a hypothetical hotel. The system is analyzed and evaluated from the viewpoint of thermodynamics and exergoeconomics under design conditions in summer and winter seasons. The exergy efficiencies, exergy losses, and exergoeconomic behaviors of each component in the system are calculated and analyzed; then, the exergoeconomic costs of chilled water, heating water, electricity, and domestic hot water are calculated. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the impact of fuel prices on the unit exergy cost of the products. The results indicate that the exergy efficiencies of the system in summer and winter are 8.06% and 12.23%, respectively. Exergy loss analyses indicate that the largest loss occurs in the gasifier and accounts for more than 60% of the total exergy losses. Exergoeconomic analysis shows that the unit exergoeconomic cost of the products is higher in winter than in summer. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the products are more sensitive to the price of natural gas than biomass. Highlights • Proposed a dual-fuel CCHP system based on biomass and natural gas. • Presented the exergy and exergoeconomic analysis of the dual-fuel CCHP system. • Discussed multiproducts' cost influenced by the fuel price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Phase change material (PCM) have been explored for different applications to increase the energy efficiency and economy. However, the proper PCM selection to meet given requirements generally requires that a compromise is struck between conflicting criteria. This paper attempts to extend multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method to solve the PCM selection problem. Firstly, the comprehensive appraisal indexes model is established and the subjective and objective weight of the criteria are obtained based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy information method, respectively. Secondly, the optimized combination weight method is adopted to obtain the combination weight. Then, the pre-screened PCMs are ranked using technique for order performance by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). Finally, the information retrieval is employed to justify the rankings. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method, a problem to select the optimal PCM for ground source heat pump (GSHP) integrated with phase change thermal storage (PCTS) system is considered. The result showed that Ba(OH) 2 ·8H 2 O is the best material for the given case and the GSHP integrated with PCTS system has better economic performance compared to the GSHP system, meanwhile, the proposed method is a simple and practical approach in solving the PCM selection problem. Highlights • Establish the comprehensive appraisal indexes model for PCM selection. • Apply the optimized combination weight method to PCM selection. • Examine the ranking goal by information retrieval. • A case study is provided to show the applicability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system with biomass gasification is a sustainable distributed energy system to effectively utilize biomass resource and improve energy efficiency. In order to achieve a higher energy efficiency and more cost-effective operation, a thermoeconomic cost analysis method based on the exergetic cost theory is applied to the CCHP system based on biomass gasification. Firstly, the exergetic cost and thermoeconomic cost of all flows in the system are calculated in different operation modes. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is presented to obtain the thermoeconomic cost variations of the products along with the influence factors, such as service life, interest rate, operation hours and biomass cost. The results indicate that the unit exergetic cost of electricity is 4.447, 4.445 and 4.447 for the summer, winter and transition season operation conditions, whereas the thermoeconomic cost is 240.004RMB/h, 257.905RMB/h and 270.811RMB/h, respectively, while for domestic hot water, these values are 14.822, 14.817, 27.086 and 33.361RMB/h, 35.769RMB/h, 166.284RMB/h, respectively. The unit exergetic cost of water for cooling and heating is 8.804 and 7.465, the thermoeconomic cost is 138.807RMB/h and 147.454RMB/h, respectively. From the sensitive analysis, the biomass cost is the most sensitive factor to the thermoeconomic cost of the products. The results also reflect that a combination of the thermoeconomic cost based on exergetic cost and sensitivity analysis method is a powerful and efficient tool for evaluating the performance of multi-product energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extremely hot environments are common in industrial buildings, which impose thermal risks on the homeostasis of the human body. Thermal protective clothing (TPC) also places physical and thermal burdens on workers. In order to ensure workers' health and work efficiency, a continuous graphical index is developed in this paper to assess heat strain in extremely hot environments, avoiding hard measurements of physiological parameters. To study human interaction with the indoor thermal environment, a climate chamber was constructed to simulate extremely hot environments. Twenty male sports majors were asked to perform intermittent treadmill exercise while wearing TPC. During the human trials, rectal temperature, heart rate, hand grip strength, ratings of perceived exertion, and ratings of thermal sensation were measured. The results of a two-way repeated analysis of variance revealed that the perceptual strain index (PeSI) can reflect influences of different work intensities and dry bulb temperatures on human heat tolerance. The results of a regression analysis revealed a strong correlation between the physiological strain index (PSI) and the PeSI. In addition, the results also revealed a strong correlation between the PSI and work efficiency. By fitting the continuous function, the proposed index defined the comfort limit, efficiency limit, and safety limit for manual labourers wearing TPC. Therefore, the proposed index derived from the findings can be used to assess heat strain and work efficiency of workers in extremely hot environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zerovalent iron (ZVI) is an environmental-friendly reactive reagent for recovering heavy metals. However, the detailed recovery mechanism remains unclear due to a lack of quantitative analysis of recovery products. Herein, microscale ZVI, nanoscale ZVI and Ni/Fe nanoparticles were used to recover Pb(II) in aqueous solution and a sequential extraction procedure (SEP) was applied to determine the formed lead species quantitatively. At high initial Pb(II) concentration (500 mg L −1 ), more than 99.5% of Pb(II) was immobilized by Ni/Fe and n-ZVI, whereas m-ZVI caused inferior recovery efficiency (<25%). XRD and XPS results revealed that Pb(II) was reduced to Pb 0 prior to the formation of metal hydroxides as the external shell of ZVI. SEP results showed that the fraction bound to carbonates (PbO), fraction bound to iron oxides and exchangeable fraction were the main lead species conducted by Ni/Fe, n-ZVI and m-ZVI, respectively. Consequently, (co-)precipitation and specific adsorption dominated Pb(II) recovery by Ni/Fe and n-ZVI, whereas m-ZVI conducted Pb(II) recovery mainly via weak adsorption. The reactivity of ZVI toward Pb(II) followed the increasing order of m-ZVI << n-ZVI ≤ Ni/Fe. The detailed mechanisms of Pb(II) recovery conducted by different ZVI were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner Mongolia locates in the very north of China, where there always be quite cold in winter. As a result of emphasizing on high indoor temperature, large amount of heating energy had been consumed in the past decades. In this research, the influence of occupant behavior, for instance, the dressing habit, window opening behavior and consumption customs on building heating energy consumption had been investigated. Field investigation, with the aid of other methods, such as design scene investigation method, are firstly prepared to be taken advantage of to seek out the information related to occupant behavior modes. Secondly, indoor and outdoor related environmental parameters of typical buildings were monitored. By means of our research, two typical behavior characteristics of Inner Mongolia occupants were found: 1) People opened windows for cooling purpose in winter; 2) They got accustomed to wear light in home as well as dissatisfied with comparatively proper indoor temperature admitted by national standard. The reason for that can be attributed to the inefficient heating cost allocation method, which should be further retrofitted in order to stimulate occupant energy conservation awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the cooling performance of the ground source heat pump (GSHP) system, save the operating cost and reduce the heat discharged into the ground soil, a new free cooling control strategy is proposed in this paper, with which the circulating water in the ground heat exchanger is used to cool the building directly. Firstly, an office building located in Tianjin is selected. Then, the measurement of the GSHP system is conducted during the cooling season. Finally, the experimental evaluation of the new strategy is performed. The results show that the free cooling strategy can meet the cooling demand of the case building at the beginning of the cooling season, there is no dewing phenomenon on the floor surface during the floor radiation free cooling period and the average system energy efficiency ratio ( EER ) (with the value of 49.29) of the free cooling mode is 16.6 times that of active cooling mode. The electricity consumption and operation cost have a great saving potential. The total heat discharged into the ground soil is reduced largely. This will slow the performance deterioration of the GSPH system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decades, physiological responses of the human body in extremely hot environments have been studied. Most research has focused on the human heat tolerance, and assessment of the heat stress. In this context, parameters of environments and physiological parameters were introduced, and important heat stress indexes were explained. This article aims to summarize the progress in the literature concerning heat stress indexes and heat acclimatization. The research priorities should shift to the relationship between human heat acclimatization and the indoor thermal environments. This paper will hopefully aid the understanding of human heat acclimatization in extremely hot environments and guide the future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating combined cooling heating and power(CCHP) system with biomass gasification is a reliable and sustainable way to utilize the biomass resource. Due to the economic feasibility, environmental emissions and energy consumption is relation with the scale of the system, for the purpose of evaluating the optimum scale of the CCHP system based on biomass gasification, the methodology of life cycle assessment(LCA) is employed. Analysis and comparison are performed with changes in biomass cost, cost of energy supply, energy consumption and environment impact under different system scales. The results indicate that no matter biomass cost, cost of energy supply, environment impact and energy consumption, it decreases firstly and then increases with the growing of the system scale, and the comprehensive performance is optimal when the scale of the system is about 5MW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate heat load forecasting is crucial for the high precise real-time operational control of buildings in winter. The inconsistency of frequencies between features and heat load, however, constrains the improvement of the ultra-short-term forecasting accuracy of heat load. This study proposed a novel hybrid model built upon Multivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition (MEMD) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) with hyper-parameters optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which is able to improve forecasting accuracy significantly. Meanwhile, Sliding Window (SW) is employed to overcome the limitations of MEMD in forecasting, and feature selection is carried out using eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) before modeling to minimize errors and reduce the workload. The principle of the proposed SW-MEMD-PSO-SVR hybrid model is to decompose the associated features and heat load into several groups of components by MEMD, maintaining a constant frequency of feature components and heat load components for each forecasting. A real building in Inner Mongolia, China, have been considered as an example to verify the superiority of the proposed hybrid model. The proposed SW-MEMD-PSO-SVR hybrid model has the best values of MAPE, NMBE, CVRMSE and R2, being 2.68%, 0.09%, 3.52%, and 84.90%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the proposed hybrid model is a promising alternative for improving accuracy of ultra-short-term building heat load forecasting. • A hybrid model is built upon MEMD and SVR. • Sliding Window is employed to overcome the limitations of MEMD. • Time-frequency analysis is applied to verify decomposition results. • Taylor diagram become one evaluation metric. • XGBoost are adopted to feature selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wnt5a, a secreted glycoprotein, belongs to the noncanonical Wnt family involved in a wide range of organism development and tissue homeostasis. Wnt5a and its signaling pathway can regulate fundamental cellular processes, including specification of cell fate, proliferation, and survival. Accumulating evidence indicates that Wnt5a exhibits dual effects on angiogenesis. The formation of new blood vessels derives from pre-existing vessels via canonical and non-canonical Wnt pathways, depending on cell types, receptors, downstream effectors, and microenvironment. Given that the regulation of angiogenesis has been implicated in many diseases, such as cancer, neovascular eye diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, these findings suggest that Wnt5a may be a potential target for the treatment of angiogenesis-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporarily occupied space (TOS) is defined as an air-conditioned space in which most of occupants stay for less than a certain period (e.g., 40 min) such as post offices, supermarkets, bookstores and banks. After moving from a hot and humid outdoor environment to TOS in summer, thermal alliesthesia takes effect, which refers to ‘thermal pleasure sensation and overshoot generated by the restoration of thermal stress toward a neutral interior condition’. Because of the overshoot, occupants' acceptable temperature ranges in TOS are possibly elevated while they still feel thermally comfortable. To study the temperature ranges, a human subjective response study was performed in one climatic chamber used to simulate TOS in Tianjin. Real outdoor environments, instead of chamber simulated outdoor environments, were used for exploring this thermal transient process. Sixteen healthy university students, 8 males and 8 females, were exposed to an outdoor environment for 20 min before they stayed in the chamber for 40 min. Their votes on thermal sensation, comfort and preference were recorded for evaluation at different time points. The results show that the recommended design standard effective temperature (SET) range of TOS is between 24.5 °C and 26.5 °C. Meanwhile, thermal comfort for staffs who have long term exposure to TOS could be maintained by personal comfort systems such as desk fans or personalized ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although GSHPs (ground-source heat pump system) have already drawn a fair amount of attention in China because of its high energy efficiency and low environmental impact characteristics, some practical problems appeared much more than the expected. COP (Coefficient of Performance) of the GSHPs decreased gradually year after year caused by imbalance energy loads especially in heating-dominated climate zones. So an experiment of solar seasonal storage coupling with GSHP was designed and implemented. In this thermal storage experiment process, a system with 1500 m solar thermal collectors and 580 sets of 120 m deep ground thermal exchangers were taken into research. Thermal equilibrium of soil was studied; relationship between solar energy radiation quantity and thermal storage quantity was discussed. Results showed that solar energy utilization efficiency achieved 50.2% and soil temperature raised by 0.21 °C. TRNSYS 16 was used to simulate thermal storage experiment, and simulation results were well matched with the measured data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat-related disorders, decreases in productivity and security risks are common phenomena when people live in extremely hot environments. To a certain extent, humans can adapt to extremely hot environments, but few studies have examined the causes of and factors influencing the aforementioned phenomena, especially in hot environments. In this paper, a climate chamber was built to simulate an extremely hot environment. Sixteen healthy male university students were asked to simulate manual labour by running. The physiological indexes (rectal temperature, heart rate and sweat production) were measured. The effects of human heat acclimatization in extremely hot environments were determined via paired sample t -tests. The time required to acclimate to the heat (in days) was determined based on the standard of thermal adaptation improvement. A Cox regression method was adopted to quantify the development of heat acclimatization and to rank the effects of several variables on heat acclimatization to determine the relationship between thermal parameters and heat acclimatization. The effects of heat acclimatization are significant, and heat acclimatization training can improve the adaptability of humans to extremely hot environments. The Cox regression method can be used to analyse heat acclimatization effectively. Both the dry bulb temperature and the relative humidity significantly affect heat acclimatization, with the effect of the former being more significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceptable temperature ranges of temporarily occupied space (TOS) such as supermarkets could be different from the ranges of normal indoor spaces such as offices. However, current thermal comfort standards do not distinguish such a space from normal spaces and identify its design temperature range clearly. This study proposed TOS, and explored human responses to TOS with the ultimate goal of finding its optimal design temperature range in winter. Questionnaire surveys were performed at six temperature levels in a climatic chamber in Tianjin. Human participants were exposed to outdoors for 20 min and then they stayed in the chamber for 40 min. During this period their thermal sensation, comfort and preference were recorded for evaluation at five different time points. The study shows that their neutral temperature ranges from 16.9 °C to 18.4 °C. Their thermal preference maintains “no change” in the range of 15.4 °C–19.3 °C. Meanwhile, from the viewpoint of thermal comfort, a temperature range of 15.4 °C–17.4 °C is highly desirable for occupants to stay in TOS. Considering the above three ranges, the optimal design temperature range for TOS in Tianjin is recommended to be 16.9 °C–17.4 °C, which achieves highly desirable thermal comfort, neutral thermal sensation and “no change” thermal preference simultaneously. This range is significantly lower than the design temperature range in Chinese national codes (20 °C–22 °C). The results of this study can be used as reference for future code formulation and building retrofitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance to cell death, a protective mechanism for removing damaged cells, is a "Hallmark of Cancer" that is essential for cancer progression. Increasing attention to cancer lipid metabolism has revealed a number of pathways that induce cancer cell death. We summarize emerging concepts regarding lipid metabolic reprogramming in cancer that is mainly involved in lipid uptake and trafficking, de novo synthesis and esterification, fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, lipogenesis, and lipolysis. During carcinogenesis and progression, continuous metabolic adaptations are co-opted by cancer cells, to maximize their fitness to the ever-changing environmental. Lipid metabolism and the epigenetic modifying enzymes interact in a bidirectional manner which involves regulating cancer cell death. Moreover, lipids in the tumor microenvironment play unique roles beyond metabolic requirements that promote cancer progression. Finally, we posit potential therapeutic strategies targeting lipid metabolism to improve treatment efficacy and survival of cancer patient. The profound comprehension of past findings, current trends, and future research directions on resistance to cancer cell death will facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies targeting the lipid metabolism. • Lipid metabolic reprogramming is crucial for various aspects of cancer cell death. • Cancer cell growth depends on lipid metabolic plasticity and sustained metabolic adaptations. • Lipid metabolism and the epigenome interact in a bidirectional manner, which regulate cancer cell death. • The therapeutic strategies targeting lipid metabolism can improve treatment efficacy and survival of cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COP (Coefficient of Performance) of the ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system decreased gradually year after year mainly caused by imbalance of thermal energy inputting, especially in heating-dominated climate zones. An experimental system of solar seasonal storage coupling with ground-source heat pump was designed and implemented. This system was installed in a group of new buildings of the new campus in Tianjin, China, which is located in cold climate zone and heat demand is dominated. To make evaluation to this system, a mathematical method was developed to calculate the COP of GSHP system and the coupled system. In this thermal storage experiment process, a system with 1500 m 2 solar thermal collectors and 580 sets of 120 m deep ground thermal exchangers was involved in this research. Results show that the soil temperature has not descended but increased by 0.21 °C, and the COP of system and heat pump unit increased 3.4% and 2.4% respectively compared to the operation data without solar seasonal storage process during last year. Although the effectiveness of solar seasonal storage coupled is not conspicuous as expected during the testing period, it indicates that the tendency of COP declination is prevented, and further illustrating that improving the COP of the system is a long-term work, the application of solar seasonal storage coupled with GSHP system should be encouraged for long-term operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hot and humid environments are prevalent in certain workplaces, such as deep mines, aviations, military facilities and so on. When working in these environments, heat strain may be produced on the human body, and the work productivity and human health will be affected, so it is necessary to study the impact mechanism caused by the influencing factors on the human body. In this paper, a climate chamber was built to simulate the hot and humid environments. The multiple regressions of physiological parameters related to temperature and relative humidity were obtained, and the combined effect caused by temperature and relative humidity on the human physiological responses was proven. The values of combined effect, temperature effect and humidity effect were quantified, and then the work effect was added. Finally, considering the combined effect between temperature and relative humidity, the enthalpy of air was adopted to reflect the effect of these two environment factors comprehensively. The study in this paper helps people understand the effects caused by environment and work intensity on human strain better and it provides a practical method for the future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Improving the energy performance of building envelope is a key to promote building energy efficiency. As a part of building envelope, Windows are recognized as the weakness of building envelope in reducing building energy consumption and thus should be as more energy efficient as possible. Currently available window products, such as double-glazed windows and tinted double-glazed windows, have their limits in balancing the performance of indoor thermal environment, energy and daylight. However, thermotropic materials, which change their light transmission behavior reversibly, have a great potential in achieving an excellent comprehensive performance. Therefore, this paper carried out energy, daylight and indoor thermal environment simulations to investigate the performance of a developed novel kind of thermotropic material for energy-efficient windows using the building simulation software DeST. Results show that thermotropic double-glazed windows can reduce 70% and 53% of highly uncomfortable indoor thermal environmental conditions in west-facing room, respectively, compared with double-glazed windows and tinted double-glazed windows. Moreover, they can reduce 19% of cooling electricity requirements in west-facing rooms compared with double-glazed windows, and provide an appropriate indoor illumination condition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hot and humid environments are prevalent in many industries. People working in hot and humid environments are at great risk of specific heat-related disorders, the productivity decrease and safety problems. In order to guarantee workers’ health and safety, safety evaluation and early warning rating of the hot and humid environments are studied in this paper. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is proposed to evaluate the work safety in hot and humid environments. Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers are adopted to handle inherent uncertainty and imprecision of the data involved in decision process. Within the proposed methodology, a decision group is firstly established. A safety evaluation framework containing three factors (work, environment, and workers) and ten sub-factors are established. The fuzzy weights of the factors and sub-factors are calculated based on the pair-wise comparisons. Then the fuzzy evaluating vectors of the sub-factors and factors can be calculated according to the initial evaluation data. Therefore, the comprehensive safety index, safety grade and early warning grade can be determined. An example is given to demonstrate the proposed method. The results demonstrate the engineering practicability and effectiveness of this method in extreme environment evaluation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Physical work in hot and humid environments imposes health risks, productivity falling and safety problems on workers. Protection of workers from heat related problems requires quantitative heat stress assessment of the workplace. In this paper, a new index-equivalent temperature (ET) is proposed to measure the environmental heat stress in indoor hot and humid environments. A climate chamber was built to simulate the indoor hot and humid environment. And the safe working time of 144 male volunteers were studied under different climatic conditions in the chamber. Cox regression method is adopted to obtain the impacts of variables on the safe working time. Then the new index-ET is proposed based on the Cox regression results. The correlations between the ET and the common used indexes are determined to test the validity of this new index. Finally the safe working time concerned with the ET is summarized. The results show that the new index gives physiological correlates and physical means. The ET developed in this paper has the potential to be a practical index to measure the environmental heat stress in indoor hot and humid environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Extreme hot environments are prevalent in many industries. Exposed to extreme hot environments, people are at great risk of a variety of heat-related disorders and safety problems. In this paper, a climate chamber was built to simulate the extreme hot environment. The dry bulb temperature in the chamber was 37.0 ± 1.0 °C, the relative humidity was 20–40%, and the black bulb temperature was 41.0 ± 1.0 °C. Eleven healthy male university students were asked to do stair stepping in prescriptive speeds to simulate manual work. The physiological indexes (oral temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and sweating rate) and the psychological effects (comprehensive thermal sensation and fatigue feeling) were measured. The effects of heat acclimatization in extreme hot environments were determined by paired sample t-tests. The results demonstrate that the effects of heat acclimatization are significant and the heat acclimatization training can improve adaptability of human body to extreme hot environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Thermal environment is one of the most important factors that have impact on workers'' productivity. There are many hot and humid workshops in China, whose thermal environment characteristics are the high temperature, high humidity and little radiation intensity. Working in hot and humid environment for a long time not only can extremely do harm to human body health, but also probably induce accidents due to the fall of productivity. In this paper, human body experiment and statistics analysis with the software of EXCEL were applied to establish a heat tolerance time model and a productivity model in hot and humid environment. Firstly, a chamber stimulating hot and humid environment was built and the experiment on heat tolerance and productivity in this chamber was completed. Heat tolerance time and productivity in different environments were tested with the change of air temperature and humidity in the environment chamber. According to the experiment results, regressive formulas for heat tolerance time changing with thermal environment parameter (WBGT) in three conditions of physical labour intensity were provided by statistics methods respectively. On this basis, the function of productivity changing with heat tolerance time and thermal environment parameter (WBGT) in three conditions of physical labour intensity using multiple linear regression analysis tool of EXCEL were obtained finally. F-test was also applied to verify the significance of all the established regression equations. The result shows that the effect of curve regression is significant and the regression function gives important statistic meaning and practical value to work time determination and productivity prediction in hot and humid environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current studies demonstrate that uniformly stable indoor thermal environments do not completely ensure the thermal comfort of residents, and unreasonable temperature settings can cause discomfort and high energy consumption. Moreover, temperature ramps frequently occur in actual indoor environments. Thus, it is important to understand human thermal responses in moderate environments with temperature ramps to improve working conditions and reduce energy consumption. In this regard, an experiment using within−subjects design in a chamber was conducted to evaluate the effects of temperature ramps on human thermal responses. A total of 60 healthy participants (30 females and 30 males) were recruited to participate in the tests. Their subjective responses, thermal comfort and sensation, thermal acceptability and preference, humidity perception and facial thermal sensation were collected during the experiments. The results showed that temperature ramps significantly affected the thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and facial sensation in the ramp-down environments but not significantly in ramp-up environments. However, the effect of temperature ramp-down on the humidity sensation was only significant for the female participants. A 2 °C temperature ramp-up did not affect the thermal comfort of the participants and was acceptable for them. The male participants were more receptive to ambient temperatures than the female ones, whereas the female participants were more sensitive to cool environments than the male ones. Moreover, good fitting relationships between the thermal sensation and the thermal comfort, as well as the thermal sensation and the facial thermal sensation were observed. This study provides some references for the influence of temperature ramps on human thermal responses in actual indoor environments, and recommends temperature set points to reduce the use of cooling energy. • Temperature ramp direction significantly affects thermal sensation and comfort. • Thermal sensation varies linearly with facial thermal sensation. • Regression relationship is obtained between thermal sensation and comfort. • Appropriate temperature ramp-up range is recommended for comfort and energy saving. • Gender differences are prevalent in subjective responses and should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]